Chronicle of Exile

Extract

Rachmaninoff's popular fame as a composer was supported until the last few years of his life by a rough half dozen compositions comprising but a small fraction of his total output. A graceful compliment paid to Rachmaninoff the pianist by Arthur Rubinstein may partially account for this fact. In a recent radio interview Mr. Rubinstein explained the former infrequency of his performances of Rachmaninoff's music by confessing that while the composer lived he had felt somewhat reluctant to interpret music which Rachmaninoff himself presented with supreme authority. Other performers have been similarly affected by the sovereign authority of the composer as both pianist and conductor. When, in combination with this possibility, we recall Rachmaninoff's disinclination to charge his concert programmes too heavily with his own works, we have perhaps a partial explanation of why more of his compositions did not share the popularity of the few.